Chapter 46

IN the autumn following the end of the Franco-German war, Dr.

　　Bird and I visited all the principal battlefields. InEngland the impression was that the bloodiest¹ battle wasfought at Gravelotte. The error was due, I believe, to ourhaving no war correspondent on the spot. Compared with thaton the plains between St. Marie and St. Privat, Gravelottewas but a cavalry² skirmish. We were fortunate enough to meeta German artillery³ officer at St. Marie who had been in theaction, and who kindly⁴ explained the distribution of theforces. Large square mounds⁵ were scattered⁶ about the plainwhere the German dead were buried, little wooden crossesbeing stuck into them to denote the regiment⁷ they hadbelonged to. At Gravelotte we saw the dogs unearthing⁸ thebodies from the shallow graves. The officer told us he didnot think there was a family in Germany unrepresented in theplains of St. Privat.

　　It was interesting so soon after the event, to sit quietly inthe little summer-house of the Chateau⁹ de Bellevue,commanding a view of Sedan, where Bismarck and Moltke andGeneral de Wimpfen held their memorable¹⁰ Council. 'Unterrible homme,' says the story of the 'Debacle,' 'ce generalde Moltke, qui gagnait des batailles du fond de son cabinet acoups d'algebre.'

　　We afterwards made a walking tour through the Tyrol, and downto Venice. On our way home, while staying at Lucerne, wewent up the Rigi. Soon after leaving the Kulm, on ourdescent to the railway, which was then uncompleted, we losteach other in the mist. I did not get to Vitznau till lateat night, but luckily found a steamer just starting forLucerne. The cabin was crammed¹¹ with German students, eachone smoking his pipe and roaring choruses to alternatesingers. All of a sudden, those who were on their legs wereknocked off them. The panic was instantaneous, for every oneof us knew it was a collision. But the immediate¹³ peril¹⁴ wasin the rush for the deck. Violent with terror, rough bynature, and full of beer, these wild young savages¹⁵ wereformidable to themselves and others. Having arrived late, Ihad not got further than the cabin door, and was up thecompanion ladder at a bound. It was pitch dark, and piteousscreams came up from the surrounding waters. At first it wasimpossible to guess what had happened. Were we rammed¹², orwere we rammers? I pulled off my coats ready for a swim.

　　But it soon became apparent that we had run into and sunkanother boat.

　　The next morning the doctor and I went on to England. A weekafter I took up the 'Illustrated¹⁶ News.' There was an accountof the accident, with an illustration of the cabin of thesunken boat. The bodies of passengers were depicted¹⁷ as thedivers had found them.

　　On the very day the peace was signed I chanced to call on SirAnthony Rothschild in New Court. He took me across the courtto see his brother Lionel, the head of the firm. Sir Anthonybowed before him as though the great man were Plutus himself.

　　He sat at a table alone, not in his own room, but in theimmense counting-room, surrounded by a brigade of clerks.

　　This was my first introduction to him. He took no notice ofhis brother, but received me as Napoleon received theemperors and kings at Erfurt - in other words, as he wouldhave received his slippers¹⁸ from his valet, or as he didreceive the telegrams which were handed to him at the rate ofabout one a minute.

　　The King of Kings was in difficulties with a little slip ofblack sticking-plaster. The thought of Gumpelino'sHyacinthos, ALIAS¹⁹ Hirsch, flashed upon me. Behold²⁰! themighty Baron²¹ Nathan come to life again; but instead ofHyacinthos paring his mightiness's HUHNERAUGEN, he himself,in paring his own nails, had contrived²² to cut his finger.

　　'Come to buy Spanish?' he asked, with eyes intent upon thesticking-plaster.

　　'Oh no,' said I, 'I've no money to gamble with.'

　　'Hasn't Lord Leicester bought Spanish?' - never looking offthe sticking-plaster, nor taking the smallest notice of thetelegrams.

　　'Not that I know of. Are they good things?'

　　'I don't know; some people think so.'

　　Here a message was handed in, and something was whispered inhis ear.

　　'Very well, put it down.'

　　'From Paris,' said Sir Anthony, guessing perhaps at itscontents.

　　But not until the plaster was comfortably adjusted did Plutusread the message. He smiled and pushed it over to me. Itwas the terms of peace, and the German bill of costs.

　　'200,000,000 pounds!' I exclaimed. 'That's a heavyreckoning. Will France ever be able to pay it?'

　　'Pay it? Yes. If it had been twice as much!' And Plutusreturned to his sticking-plaster. That was of realimportance.

　　Last autumn - 1904, the literary world was not a littlegratified by an announcement in the 'Times' that the BritishMuseum had obtained possession of the original manuscript ofKeats's 'Hyperion.' Let me tell the story of its discovery.

　　During the summer of last year, my friend Miss Alice Bird,who was paying me a visit at Longford, gave me this accountof it.

　　When Leigh Hunt's memoirs²³ were being edited by his sonThornton in 1861, he engaged the services of three intimatefriends of the family to read and collate²⁴ the enormous massof his father's correspondence. Miss Alice Bird was one ofthe chosen three. The arduous²⁵ task completed, Thornton Huntpresented each of his three friends with a number ofautographic letters, which, according to Miss Bird'sdescription, he took almost at random²⁶ from the eliminatedpile. Amongst the lot that fell to Miss Bird's share was aroll of stained paper tied up with tape. This she was led tosuppose - she never carefully examined it - might be either acopy or a draft of some friend's unpublished poem.

　　The unknown treasure was put away in a drawer with the rest.

　　Here it remained undisturbed for forty-three years. Havingnow occasion to remove these papers, she opened the forgottenscroll, and was at once struck both with the words of the'Hyperion,' and with the resemblance of the writing toKeats's.

　　She forthwith consulted the Keepers of the Manuscripts in theBritish Museum, with the result that her TROUVAILLE wasimmediately identified as the poet's own draft of the'Hyperion.' The responsible authorities soon after, offeredthe fortunate possessor five hundred guineas for themanuscript, but courteously²⁷ and honestly informed her that,were it put up to auction²⁸, some American collector would bealmost sure to give a much larger sum for it.

　　Miss Bird's patriotism²⁹ prevailed over every otherconsideration. She expressed her wish that the poem shouldbe retained in England; and generously accepted what wasindubitably less than its market value.

1 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

2 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

3 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

4 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

5 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

6 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

7 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

8 unearthing   

发掘或挖出某物( unearth的现在分词 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露

参考例句：

• And unearthing the past often means literally and studying the evidence. 通常，探寻往事在字面上即意味着——刨根究底。
• The unearthing of "Peking Man" was a remarkable discovery. “北京人”的出土是个非凡的发现。

9 chateau   

n.城堡，别墅

参考例句：

• The house was modelled on a French chateau.这房子是模仿一座法国大别墅建造的。
• The chateau was left to itself to flame and burn.那府第便径自腾起大火燃烧下去。

10 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

11 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

12 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

14 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

15 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

16 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

17 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

18 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

19 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。

20 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

21 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

22 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

23 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 collate   

vt.(仔细)核对，对照；(书籍装订前)整理

参考例句：

• They have begun to collate their own statistics on racial abuse. 他们已经开始整理自己有关种族歧视的统计数据。
• You may collate the latter with the earlier edition. 你可将新版与旧版相对照。

25 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

26 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

27 courteously   

adv.有礼貌地，亲切地

参考例句：

• He courteously opened the door for me.他谦恭有礼地为我开门。
• Presently he rose courteously and released her.过了一会，他就很客气地站起来，让她走开。

28 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

29 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。